68 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



and he supports his views by a reference to the months of 

 July and August, at which time the land and sea breezes al- 

 most disappear, and there is found a decided double period. 

 These variations are regarded as indicative of the existence 

 of a double diurnal variation in the general movements of 

 the atmosphere. The wind records at St. Helena, Toronto, 

 and Falmouth are also shown to exhibit a greater or less 

 agreement with those of Bombay, and the author points out 

 their applicability in deducing probabilities and discussing 

 storms. Pr. Boy. Sac, 1873, 384. 



SUNSET TINTS AND ARCS. 



Mr. Winstanley communicates to the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society of Manchester the result of numerous obser- 

 vations made by him on the color of the last glimpse of the 

 sun at sunset. Mr. Baxendell and Dr. Joule had previously 

 observed that the last visible portion of the sun became clear 

 blue or bluish green just as it vanished. Mr. Winstanley, 

 after more than fifty observations, states that the color is by 

 no means constant, being as often blue as it is bluish green. 

 Its duration is likewise variable, being from half a second to 

 two seconds and a half. When examined with the assistance 

 of a telescope, it becomes evident that the green ray begins 

 at an early stage of the solar obscuration at the points or 

 cusps on the visible segment of the sun; and, when the set- 

 ting is nearly completed, it extends from both cusps to the 

 central space between. The color, as seen in the telescope, 

 is more varied than when the observation is made with the 

 naked eve. The different colors, too-ether with the order of 

 their appearance, show that the cause of their production lies 

 in the prismatic action of the atmosphere. By projecting a 

 large image of the sun in a darkened room, Mr. Winstanley 

 was able to get the whole of the spectrum produced by the 

 prismatic action of the atmosphere in a very satisfactory 

 manner. 12 A, IX., 20. 



METEOROLOGY IN THE ARGENTINE CONFEDERACY. 



The first annual report of the Meteorological Office of the 

 Argentine Confederacy, as recently delivered, has just been 

 received, and from it we perceive that the director, Dr. B. A. 

 Gould, who is also astronomer of the Confederacy, has en- 



